Course Strategy · Strategy

In the rough, take more loft than the yardage says

Out of the rough, the speaker says amateurs pick the club purely by yardage — 175 yards left, so they pull the 5-iron they normally fly 175. But from the rough they likely won't strike it cleanly, so it may only fly about 120 and come up short. He suggests taking more loft, for example a 7-iron: the steeper attack angle catches less grass behind the ball, the ball comes out with less spin and launches higher, and it can end up travelling almost like the 5-iron would. Generally when the ball is sitting down in the rough you have to be a little steeper.